Storytelling
Saturday, 16. June 2007, 18:19:05
Right now I’m watching the movie Radio. I’ve turned the director’s commentary on which, in this case, supersedes virtually all the dialogue of the movie. Every little commentary or insight into how the movie was done is such a treat. But why?
After watching for more than hour, it suddenly hit me: the storytelling. The director is telling details of scenes, actors, writing, authenticity of the situations – or artistic liberalities. But he’s not just telling, he is verbally crafting his love of the material and the people and situations of life – on and off the screen.
Storytelling. It’s about making a point with the film and how many events behind the scenes helped make it happen. Perhaps one of the main reasons I love the release of films on DVD is there is just so much extra stuff that adds such depth to the production of a great film. Chariots of Fire; Lord of the Rings; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are among the few in my collection I enjoy watching over and over again.
Perhaps storytelling is something that strikes such a chord in my soul because it’s not something I do easily – or very often. Storytelling is effective when there is an interesting subject and lively person speaking and an appreciative person or audience listening. Sometimes that may not always happen. I recall that Vincent Van Gogh was not appreciated much for his artistic genius until after he was dead. Sad really. I can understand a bit of how he tried desperately to reach out and let others know who he was, but no one was listening.
Perhaps that is one reason I miss my engineering friend when I lived in another city. We would talk for hours about technology, science, aircraft, computers and all sorts of other things. Our phone calls get quite long when I call Montreal. Another friend here will sit and talk about music and relationships. I enjoy the conversations of both guys. It nourishes me in hearing about what is going on in their lives and the freedom to say anything that is on our minds. Another fellow from my church is normally very reserved. One day I was working with him and asked how he and his wife met. For the next few hours he talked almost non-stop about his growing up, meeting her, youth groups, pitfalls and most any detail connected with the subject of meeting her. He has not spoken to me at such length about anything else before or since. But the storytelling was fascinating.
Telling about something you love or admire with passion is so much better when someone listens – even if they don’t understand it all. If they do, or want to learn more about your passion, so much the better; and a blessing all around.
After watching for more than hour, it suddenly hit me: the storytelling. The director is telling details of scenes, actors, writing, authenticity of the situations – or artistic liberalities. But he’s not just telling, he is verbally crafting his love of the material and the people and situations of life – on and off the screen.
Storytelling. It’s about making a point with the film and how many events behind the scenes helped make it happen. Perhaps one of the main reasons I love the release of films on DVD is there is just so much extra stuff that adds such depth to the production of a great film. Chariots of Fire; Lord of the Rings; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are among the few in my collection I enjoy watching over and over again.
Perhaps storytelling is something that strikes such a chord in my soul because it’s not something I do easily – or very often. Storytelling is effective when there is an interesting subject and lively person speaking and an appreciative person or audience listening. Sometimes that may not always happen. I recall that Vincent Van Gogh was not appreciated much for his artistic genius until after he was dead. Sad really. I can understand a bit of how he tried desperately to reach out and let others know who he was, but no one was listening.
Perhaps that is one reason I miss my engineering friend when I lived in another city. We would talk for hours about technology, science, aircraft, computers and all sorts of other things. Our phone calls get quite long when I call Montreal. Another friend here will sit and talk about music and relationships. I enjoy the conversations of both guys. It nourishes me in hearing about what is going on in their lives and the freedom to say anything that is on our minds. Another fellow from my church is normally very reserved. One day I was working with him and asked how he and his wife met. For the next few hours he talked almost non-stop about his growing up, meeting her, youth groups, pitfalls and most any detail connected with the subject of meeting her. He has not spoken to me at such length about anything else before or since. But the storytelling was fascinating.
Telling about something you love or admire with passion is so much better when someone listens – even if they don’t understand it all. If they do, or want to learn more about your passion, so much the better; and a blessing all around.
WIDGETIZE